Ghost Ship (7): Hunting Down the Records

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 27th December 2017

Characters: Kiomo, Fymer
Description: Kiomo and Fymer comb the Records of Turquoise Bay Hold for answers...
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 8 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentions: Xeladrie

Kiomo smiled and nodded to the Turquoise Bay Archivist, but waited
until the man was out of site before unrolling the hide. "The island
_should_ be on
this map." He pulled out the copy of the map he had brought with him
from his breast pocket. Spreading it out besides the map, he pointed
out the island they were looking for. "This is the island were the
mine is located. This formation of islands fits one I found... here,"
he said, pointing to the spot on the Turquoise Bay map.

"Right," Fymer said and bent to look. As a harper scribe he was at
least passingly familiar with maps. He was even more familiar with
prospecting protocol. "If they did things like they were supposed to,
there should be also map, prospect report and the claim application in
the minecraft hall. If we need a cross reference," he was not very
eager to travel to Garnet Valley to find out. Sharding cold place.
"There weren't any coordinates?"

"Well, for sure I'm not going back to Garnet Valley any time soon."
Kiomo knew his welcome was indefinitely revoked. "Ah! Here, look."
He pointed to a small spot on the map. "I think this is the island.
There's a symbol on it. I'm not sure what that means." Had the Hold
actually put a settlement on the island after all?

Fymer had been born in seahold near Jade Harbour Hold and his father
had been fishcrafter. He had picked up thing or two while growing up.
"It's lighthouse," he told the younger man.

Kiomo also was from close to the sea, but he didn't remember any
lighthouses in his ancestral home that were so remote. "I don't see a
name for a settlement anywhere around there. Would there be a
lighthouse just stuck on an island like that? Without reason?"

"That is unusual," Fymer agreed. "Lighthouses are usually next to
ports or where the busy shiping line crosses particullary dangerous
part of the sea. That is nowhere near where ships usually sail. They
are meant to guide the ships."

"Maybe it's a short cut from the North. Here, look." Kiomo pointed
to the long finger of land that jutted southward from the Northern
Continent. "Maybe some ships try to shave days off by going through
the archipelago and this is a particularly dangerous spot. Or maybe
it's just meant to be an emergency port in case of trouble." He stood
up his full height and combed his fingers through his hair. "We need
to know more. But at least if there's a lighthouse, the island must
have a name." And records.

"I don't know that much of seacraft," Fymer admitted. Kiomo's theories
did sound plausible. "The Seacraft Hall's records?" he suggested.
"They should hold that kind of information."

Kiomo shrugged is agreement. It would make sense. But this was
Turquoise Bay territory. "There should be records here, too, right?
Let's find another map with the name of the island and see what they
have."

"Well, they should, especially if it's in their terratorial waters,"
Fymer said. He wasn't sure how far the Hold's rights reached in over
water but he knew the Hold's claimed the islands in their coast. He
looked the rows of shelves.

Kiomo continued to study the map. "Looks like the island we're
looking for is in the 'Mezzo Islands', if that helps any."

"It gives us a letter to start from. I'm not an archievist, so I do
hope they use the standard alphabetical system," Fymer said and
started to walk along the aisles to find the shelves with M-letter.

Kiomo walked over and joined in the search. Looking down the long
line of documents and books, he shook his head. "How anyone can
find anything in a Record Room is beyond me. It's like looking for
one pebble on a river bed."

"That's why there is system. The alphabetical ones is most popular and
simplest one," Fymer said. Having spot the shelves with M-letter, he
set out to work. After a while he had piled armful of records and one,
old scrolled map which he handed to Kiomo. "Handle that with care, it
looks really old," he warned. He felt the map was probably their best
chance. It looked like it might just pre-date the Long Interval or at
least date back to the Hold's founding.

"Should I be wearing gloves?" Kiomo said with a small laugh. He was
only half kidding. There had actually been a box of gloves at the end
of the table and he did remember seeing archivists wear them before.

"You might want to," Fymer said absently while he carried the records
to the table. He blew some dust off from them.

Kiomo got a pair for each of them and then sat down beside the Harper
to see what he might have found. "Shall we check out this map first?"
Now that they had the gloves, they might as well use them!

"Yes, I think it's most promising," Fymer replied. He pulled gloves on
too and gently rolled the map open. It was so old that there was crack
in the hide and the ink was faded. "Put some weight on it so it
doesn't roll back," the hide didn't want to straighten up. His heart
pace picked up when he saw it really was map of the islands. "Now,
let's compare this to the one we found the lighthouse symbol. All
these islands have names," he pointed the ancient map. Admittedly,
some of the names were barely visible.

Kiomo had been studying the shapes of the islands for some time, so
his eyes were quickly attracted to one of a similar size and shape.
"I think this is it!" He checked the islands around it to be sure,
but he was pretty sure they had found the one. There was even a
lighthouse symbol in the same spot! "Fingertail Island. And there's
even a little fishing outpost. Couldn't be more than ten or 15
families. Looks like the islands at one time were dotted with such
little cots. That would explain the need for a lighthouse once. The
cot might be gone, but perhaps they have maintained the lighthouse out
of habit."

Fymer did more meticulous comparison before nodding his agreement. "We
found it. I presume those fishcots were abandoned during the plagues."

"Could be. Or maybe they just never really took hold. That happens
sometimes when a new area is established. There's a mad land grab and
then over time people realize it wasn't such a good location after
all." Trade routes changed, economies changed, disasters wiped out
whole Holds. Anything could have happened over so long a time.
"Fingertail Island. We need to find out exactly what people were
doing there!"

"Right, back to the shelves then, section F," Fymer replied.

While his friend browsed the Records, Kiomo reached for a book from
the stack and flipped to the index in the back. "Let's see...
Fall... Felines...
Felis..." His finger continued down the column until he found the
word he was looking for. "Fingertail Island." Checking the number he
flipped to the page and began scanning the information it contained.
"Interesting."

Fymer came back with another set of records. "I got the orginal
founding charter for Fingertail Island cothold, as well as some birth-
and death records," he told him. He noticed Kiomo's expression. "You
found something?"

Kiomo summarized what he had read. "This is an account of the island
just before and after the Plague. It seems already it was almost
abandoned. It was just mostly used as shelter in a storm, or for
fresh water and supplies. There were just a few families left. They
received warning that the Plague was starting to spread
into the islands. Rather than stay, they scattered to winds. The
lighthouse keeper had to remain, but he sent his family to live with
his brother. Guess where."

Fymer shifted throught the records he was holding, "Carnelian Coast
Hold?" he guessed after find a marriage certificate.

"Exactly," Kiomo said as her leaned closer to look at the record he
held. "Which is where our miners hailed from. But it doesn't tell us
if they are there with Lord Xelfin's blessing or not."

"No. it doesn't. The lightkeeper's wife was from Carnelian Coast, "
Fymer red from the marriage records. "And his sister married a
minecrafter. Now, that is peculiar. That miner was far from home.
Those guys tend to stick to the mountains. Why would a miner marry to
a fishing cothold?"

"Just because he married at the fishing cothold doesn't mean he was a
permanent resident there. He could have been caught with the
lighthouse keeper's sister and forced to marry." Enough father's had
tried to do that to him, Kiomo remembered.

"True," Fymer agreed. "These records don't tell the stories behind
death, births and marriages."

Kiomo leaned over to peruse the document the Harper held. "Where was
the miner based? Does it say?"

"Just a second," Fymer looked them thru. "Here! Turquoise Bay."

"Great!" Kiomo said excitedly, then quickly lowered his voice. "If he
was contracted to the Hold, there must be a record here somewhere of
what he was doing on that island, right? We need to find out why he
was on the island and what happened after the Plague. Shards, what
candlemark is it?"

"Probably past meal time," Fymer said. "Let's take a break. We have
names, locations and some dates, it's just matter of patience while
hunting down the records."

"Sounds good! And I also need to try to see Lady Xeladrie." After
all, checking on the well-being of the pregnant Lady Holder was the
excuse they had given for coming to the Hold. "But yes, let's see
what we can find after the meal."

Last updated on the January 1st 2018

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Ghost Ship (7): Hunting Down the Records